Encyclopedia of Linguistics

Style Guide

Format Requirements

All submissions to the Encyclopedia of Linguistics should consist of
(1) the essay, (2) a bibliography of the works about the subject, and (3, for
biographies) a capsule biography and a list of selected works. Please send both
a double-spaced hard copy and the corresponding electronic file. Please make
sure that the hard copy is the latest printout of the electronic file (i.e.,
hard copy and file match exactly). You may send these files either on a 3.5"
disk or as email attachments. While we can accept a number of different types of
files prepared on either PC or Macintosh computers, please indicate both the
word-processing software used and the version (e.g., Microsoft Word 7.0,
WordPerfect 8.0, etc.) as well as the system on which it was run (e.g.,
Macintosh System 7.5.2, Windows 95, etc.). We are unable to accept Claris Works
files.

General Style Requirements

PunctuationAll punctuation should be in the same font as is the
text that precedes it. For example, if a comma follows the title of a work, the
comma should also be italic.

All punctuation should appear inside quotation marks (with the exception of
the colon or semicolon). Double quotation marks should be used. For quotations
within quotations, single quotation marks should be used.

Quotations of more than two or three lines in length should appear as block
quotations; that is, set off from the text and indented, no quotation marks.

Please note that quotations from the works discussed or other sources should
be paraphrased as much as possible; footnotes will not be incorporated in
the text. When it is necessary to quote directly from a source, please list that
work in the bibliography at the end of the entry and give the author's name, the
title of the work, the year of the publication, and the page(s) on which the
quoted material appears in parentheses at the end of the quote.

SpellingSpelling will be standardized to conform to American
usage as found in Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 10th ed.
However, contributors who are more comfortable using British spelling are
welcome to submit their essays according to British usage.

Singular possessives should always end in 's, even those ending in s
or z. Plural possessives should always end in an apostrophe only.

Foreign words should be italicized if not found in Merriam-Webster's
Collegiate Dictionary, 10th ed.

Please be consistent in your use of special characters and diacritics. If
your word-processing software does not allow the use of special characters,
please indicate on the hard copy where these should appear.

CapitalizationPersonal names should be capitalized and spelled
according to Webster's Biographical Dictionary; place names should be
capitalized and spelled according to Webster's Geographical Dictionary,
3rd edition. Please note that initials in place of first names are given without
space between letters:

M.A.K. Halliday J.L. Austin

The general rule for foreign place names is that the English equivalent is
used rather than the original; thus, "Wien" should be given as "Vienna,"
"Venezia" should be given as "Venice," etc.

Names of organizations should be given spelled out the first time, followed
by the accepted abbreviation, without periods between letters, in
parentheses:

Modern Language Association (MLA) Linguistic Society of America (LSA)

For all other spelling matters, please consult the dictionary. If you
consistently spell specific words or terms in ways that do not conform to the
above guidelines or Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 10th ed.,
please inform us of them and provide a brief justification for their use in a
cover letter accompanying your essays.

Titles of WorksTitles of books and journals are italicized and
works should be followed (upon first mention) by the original publication
date:

When non-English titles appear in the text, please supply the original
publication date and either the published translation title (in italics) or a
courtesy translation (in roman) immediately after the original title:

NumbersPlease spell out cardinal and ordinal numbers from 1 to
10; for all numbers over 10, both cardinal and ordinal, please use the numeral
for all numbers up to 999,999. For numbers greater than one million, please use
a numeral followed by the word million (e.g., "1.7 billion people," "2
million copies," "2.3 million catalogs").

DatesCenturies should follow the rule for ordinal numbers given
above: "tenth century," but "19th century." Decades should be indicated by
numerals with the century indicated, such as "1890s," "1920s." Specific dates
should appear in the order day month year with no intervening punctuation, such
as "1 January 1998." Use bce and ce, not bc and ad. Note that they are
set in small caps without periods. Both bce and ce follow the date (63
bce). Use of wording such as "the second centure ce" is acceptable. Do not use
ah to signify "in the Hebrew year"; write it out (in the Hebrew year 2757").

Capsule Biography(to follow linguist entries):

The purpose of the capsule biography is to give the reader quick reference to
concise information about the linguist's dates and career. In general, any
information that is found in the Selected Works list should not be given in the
capsule biography. Similarly, discussions of the influences, acquaintances, and
so forth should be included in the essay rather than in the biography.

Biographies contain three main sections, separated by periods. These are
birth information, education and career information (which may include
additional sections, also separated by periods), and death information (or
current place of residence for living linguists). Important honors received by
the linguist should be listed in a fourth section that immediately precedes the
death (or residence) information.

*Note that city and other place names should follow U.S. usage as found in
Merriam-Websterâ€™s Collegiate Dictionary, 10th edition.

(The following is an example for Swadesh, Morris):

Biography

Born in Holyoke, Massachusetts, 22 January 1909. BA (1930), MA (1931) for
dissertation on Nootka aspect, tutored by Edward Sapir, University of Chicago;
followed Sapir to Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, Ph.D. for work on
Nootka semantics, 1933, then work at Yale on synchronic phonological theory and
on American English grammar, 1933-37. Assistant Professor, University of
Wisconsin--Madison, 1937-39. Moved to Mexico City, there Director, Consejo de
Lenguas Indígenas, and Director of Linguistics, Departamento de Asuntos Indígenas,
1939; Professor, Instituto Politécnico Nacional de México, Escuela de
Antropología, and Departamento de Asuntos Indigenas, 1939-41. Linguist for the
War Department in New York City during World War II; Associate Professor, City
University of New York, 1948; lost his teaching appointment and had his passport
revoked because of “leftist” views and activities; researcher at the Boas
Collection, Library of the American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia,
1949-53; independent field work 1953-56. Moved again to Mexico City, there
Research Professor, Instituto de Historia, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México,
and Professor, Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia, 1956-67. Member,
Linguistic Society of America (LSA) in 1931, Life Member in 1937; member of two
special interest groups of the LSA, 1939; President of the Linguistic Section of
the 29th International Congress of Americanists, 1939; editor of Word,
1946-49. Died in Mexico City, 20 July 1967.

Selected Works(to follow capsule biography):

The purpose of the Selected Works lists is to give the reader quick access to
the linguist's most important works, listed in chronological order. Please be
sure to list all works mentioned in the essay portion of the article as well as
any other important works. Include in each citation the title of the work (in
italics for books or in double quotes for articles and essays), date of first
publication, translations into English, and any key subsequent editions or
updated versions of the work (2nd edition, revised edition, new edition, etc.).
In rare cases, unpublished manuscripts and dissertations are appropriate for
Selected Works; they are formatted as follows:

"Linguistics as an Instrument of Prehistory," Southwestern Journal of
Anthropology 15 (1959)

The Origin and Diversification of Language, 1971

Further Reading (to follow all essays)

The Further Reading section should contain six to 12 print sources on the
topics. Criteria for selecting titles for the Further Reading section are as
follows: 1.) the most comprehensive work in any language; 2.) the best works in
English, particularly those rich in bibliography; 3.) seminal works in any
language; 4.) classic works; 5.) works mentioned in the article. The goal in all
cases is to direct readers to the best recent scholarship. Titles in European
and Asian languages may be cited; if an English-language translation exists,
please cite as well. For non-Romance language titles without English
translations, please provide a courtesy translation in parentheses following the
title.

One final note: the Further Reading section does not constitute part of an
article's word count.

Titles in the bibliographies are listed alphabetically by author. Publication
information for the first publication in both the United States and England
should be included. The following samples serve to illustrate both the format
and style for the bibliographies.

*BookFormat: Author last name, first name, Book Title,
place of publication: publisher, date

Article in a book edited by someone elseYip, Moira, "Coronals,
Consonant Clusters, and the Coda Condition," in The Special Status of
Coronals: Internal and External Evidence, edited by Carole Paradis and
Jean-François Prunet, San Diego, California: Academic Press, 1991

*Books with different titles (list original title first; it's not uncommon
for a book published in one country to have a different title in another
country)Sarles, Harvey B., After Metaphysics, Lisse, The
Netherlands: Peter de Ridder Press, 1977; as Language and Human Nature,
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1985